Ping eyes Mike A’s tax liability

From alleged money laundering to possible tax evasion.

Opposition Sen. Panfilo Lacson wrote the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) yesterday asking for a "parallel" inquiry into the possible tax liability of First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, whom he has accused of laundering tens of millions through dummy bank accounts.

Lacson sent his letter to BIR Commissioner Guillermo Parayno Jr. a day after asking the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) to look into and freeze Mr. Arroyo’s "suspicious" accounts.

Lacson furnished Parayno a copy of the privileged speech he delivered last Monday entitled "The Incredible Hulk, Chapter I," and copies of bank statements in the names of Mr. Arroyo’s personal secretary Victoria/Vicky Toh, her brother Thomas and brother-in-law Kelvin Tan. The three, Lacson said, were the First Gentleman’s dummies.

He informed the BIR chief that he mentioned in his privilege speech "several bank accounts containing considerable amounts of money which, from all indications, appear as suspicious accounts as they are either in the name of a client who is not properly identified or that the amount involved is not commensurate with the business or financial capacity of the client."

He said the bureau should determine "whether these persons actually declared these amounts in their income tax returns (ITRs) and paid the correct amount of taxes due the government."

Lacson suggested that Parayno should not limit his inquiry to the account holders’ most recent ITR but should cover returns for previous years to establish their financial standing.

"Commissioner Parayno should look for these documents now because they might be subpoenaed once the Senate begins hearings on my accusations against Mr. Arroyo," he later told reporters.

He said he made the requests to the AMLC and the BIR since "there are the appropriate agencies that can look into money laundering and tax liability issues and prosecute those responsible for such acts of wrongdoing."

"It is my obligation as a citizen and as an elected representative of the people to give these agencies the credible information I possess," he added.

Besides the account of Mr. Arroyo, the Tohs and Tan, covered by Lacson’s request is the account of Jose Pidal, which the opposition senator and presidential hopeful claimed is the false name of Mr. Arroyo allegedly used to hide funds in the UnionBank branch along Perea St., Legaspi Village, Makati, not far from the Arroyos’ LTA Building, where the First Gentleman holds office.

In his Incredible Hulk privileged speech, Lacson said as of last July 30, Pidal’s account held P36.6 million. In the same UnionBank branch, Vicky Toh had P19.3 million, her brother Thomas had P7.5 million and Tan had P21.1 million. Like Pidal and Mr. Arroyo, the three have the same business address — 8th Floor, LTA Building.

The Arroyos’ Lualhati Foundation had P48.2 million in the same bank.

These amounts do not include funds held by Tan in the International Exchange Bank Perea branch.

Copies of bank statements obtained by The STAR yesterday from Lacson’s office showed that for the one-month period from Nov. 24 to Dec. 23, 2002. Tan’s account (041-02-0-001720) had a beginning balance of P132,809.86.

But on Dec. 2, a P20-million check deposit was made. Two days later, Tan issued three pay-to-cash checks for P2 million, P8 million and P10 million. It is not known to whom Tan handed the checks, although Lacson has photo copies of them. The P20 million deposit and withdrawal in three days were the only transactions the account holder had during the one-month period.

"To me, it’s a clear case of money laundering," Lacson said.

As for Tan’s UnionBank account (073-001833-7), it held P20.4 million as of July 31, 2002. He had three large transactions: he issued a check for P10 million that was deposited by an unnamed client in the same branch on July 3, he made a cash deposit of P7 million two days later and deposited a P1.2 million check on July 28.

Vicky Toh’s account (073-001820-9), as of July 31, 2002, had a balance of P10.6 million. She had two transactions in the millions: a P15 million check withdrawal and a P5 million cash deposit. She had seven other deposits, the largest of which was P40,640.47.

In his privilege speech, Lacson said Vicky Toh’s account once held at least P53 million.

He urged President Arroyo’s husband to come out in the open and respond to his accusations point-by-point instead of dismissing them as politicking and part of a supposed destabilization plot.

He said he is not engaged in any move to destabilize the government and that all he wanted was to "expose corruption at the highest levels and the hypocrisy of this administration that was brought to power partly on a promise to fight corruption."

Opposition colleague Aquilino Pimentel Jr. made the same appeal to Mr. Arroyo.

Pimentel said instead of assigning motives to Lacson, the presidential husband should give a credible defense to the charges leveled against him.